Kham then and now. A photoblog showing how eastern Tibet looked in the 1920s and how the same places and people look now. Based on the explorations of botanist Joseph Rock.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Random photo: Maidi Gangga (麦地贡嘎, Muti Konka)

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While the others breakfasted on suyou cha and tsampa, I walked
down to the lakeside. The water was crystal clear, showing the blue-grey stones
on the bottom, receding into pale sandy depths. The surface of the lake was
absolutely still, and appeared to be covered with a fine coating of dust. I
witnessed an unusual and startling visual effect. When the sun’s rays first
appeared over the ridge, the surface of the lake became a perfect mirror
reflecting the snowy mountain and autumnal forest colours of greens, yellows
and reds and browns. However, as soon as the sun’s rays directly touched the
lake, the mirror reflection was instantly and dramatically transformed into a
window, revealing the sparkling perception of its depths. I threw in a small
pebble and watched the concentric rings of its ripples swimming and expanding
as shadows on the bottom of the lake. If there was a monster down there it must
be keeping very still, I thought.

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About this blog

Dr Joseph Rock was an Austrian-American botanist who explored the Tibetan borderlands of Sichuan and Yunnan in the 1920s and 30s. This is about my travels to revisit the places he described in the National Geographic magazine. Any questions? contact me at beijingweek AT gmail